I'll Let You in on a Secret...

[Added on 2-1-07: Here's where I tried to post a picture of the pizza I made for Bruce on his birthday.  Then I tried to post a video of the pizza sizzling, and failed.  I then gave up, because I was drunk.  Now, you may enjoy the picture.

Thanks for your patience.  Sometimes I like to forget about my drunken stupors instead of correcting the mistakes I made while in the middle of them.]

Happy Birthday!

Bruce turned the big two-seven yesterday. He says it feels like the big two-six did, so *phew*. That's a relief.

When I woke up yesterday, I rolled right on over to give him his birthday morning kiss, and this lovely exchange took place:

Me: Happy Birthday, Baby! How do you feel?

Him: Like I did yesterday.*

Me: Well, that's good. [kisses him] There. I think you're the oldest man I've ever kissed.

...

Me: Well, actually, that's not true at all.

Him: ...

Me: Sorry 'bout that. That was a lie.

I Don't Know How I Ever Became Married, if This is How I Am

I've got this problem where, if someone is telling me a story and I think something funny in my head, it will come out of my mouth. At times I can contain it, like when I'm at work. It takes a lot of effort, so usually the people I'm pretty comfortable with get to bear the brunt of it. Like, for instance, Bruce said before we got married that he definitely doesn't ever want to be divorced, so I'm pretty safe annoying him, and he gets to be annoyed by me all the time. There was an excellent example tonight:

Bruce: So, I was reading this thing on Google about how, you know how there's the speed of light and the speed of sound, right? Well, scientists just found there's a sp-

Me: A SPEED OF TASTE!!! [cackles hysterically]

Bruce: [not amused]No.

-----

Actually, if you're interested, apparently there's a new speed of sound, one that's even faster than the speed of light. Speed of sound, v. 1.2. "Now faster than ever before!"

Bread

Amish White Bread
I, like many people suggested, reduced the 2/3 cup sugar to 1/4, with great results. Mom, Dad, Bruce and I all approved.


English Muffin Bread
Simply wonderful. Crunchy crust, crumbly slightly sweet insides, perfect with honey butter. Simple to make, with only one rise. I'm going to make this all the time. It's that good.

If you'd wondered what I've been doing lately, wonder no more. I'm making bread. At least twice.  And cleaning the house. And making soup. And learning how to embroider. And reorganizing the pantry. And unpacking the spare bedroom so that Bruce will have somewhere to set up a studio/practice room for his instruments. And jumping on a mini-trampoline whenever I pass it, for a few seconds at a time.

I'm a little busy. And (I hope this doesn't jinx it) I also think that I might be losing weight. A little bit. I bought a pair of work pants from Old Navy that were on super-clearance, because a pair of pants for $7.50 is a good investment, even if they're slightly too small, at least it is if you're really going to try to lose some weight. Anyway, they're size 14, and the last pair of work pants I bought was slightly too small at size 16. However, those were from a different store, and I don't believe they were "stretch". If you've ever bought pants with "stretch", then you know how much that can falsely boost your confidence level. They fit like a dream, though, and even if it doesn't mean I've lost any weight, I'm going to let it boost my self-confidence and my desire to slim down (some).

I'm also really impressed at myself for making the chicken soup I made this week. It wasn't anything fancy (in fact, I didn't add actual "chicken"), but it was much more than I would have thought myself capable of. Part of my New Year's resolution was to open myself up to trying new things, things that are scary. Cooking is turning out to be so enjoyable that I'm having a hard time understanding why I didn't start this a long time ago. I hope the rest of my experiments turn out as well as the cooking. I have a feeling they're going to. I can't wait.

Also, I started knitting a pair of felted clogs (from the FiberTrends pattern I bought almost a year ago). So far, so good. Oh, and I started over on my hourglass sweater, this time with a different yarn. So far, so good. The drape is much nicer with the new yarn and new gauge. I might have to do some creative increasing for the chest portion, but I'm going to cross that bridge when I get there. Still haven't ripped out the old sweater, because it's much more fun to birth a new project than to bury the old.

Dishcloth count is up to 6.75. That doesn't sound right, but those are the ones I was able to grab from the bin at one go.

It's Snowing Again

I tried to make french bread last night, and it totally failed. Here's what I think went wrong: I didn't so much "follow the recipe", and when I halved the recipe that I didn't follow, I didn't so much remember to "halve" all of the ingredients. Now I have a brick of bread-like substance. The nice thing is, I like pretty much all bread, and will no doubt eat it anyway. This is why bread is a good cooking experiment for me.

Last weekend, I made chili from scratch. Did I tell you? Well, it was actually good! Wow! I can sometimes cook things and have them turn out!

Next weekend is Mom's birthday, but it's also Bruce's birthday weekend. There's a tattoo convention happening at Oneida Casino that we're planning on going to, afterwards joining in some festivities. Not sure where, but I'm sure there will be festive people somewhere. It's finally gotten cold, and it's snowing, and if nothing else, we'll have to join in the festivities on the middle of a lake somewhere, because these people up here know how to have a festive time, and when it's finally wintery and they feel like they've been missing out ice-fishing-wise, they'll make that festive happen in the middle of the lake.

Shit, I just remembered that Bruce got invited ice fishing by a friend of ours. Oops. We should have maybe talked to him since, oh, September if that was going to be a possibility.

The weekend after next, I'm going to Appleton with my cousin Michelle. We're shopping for ingredients for our Valentine's Day presents (mostly for female family members). We're going to be making Aztec Hot Chocolate, from this recipe that I got on Hello Yarn:

Aztec Hot Chocolate
makes one jar

*1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
*1 cup powdered milk
*1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
*1/2 cup granulated white sugar
*1/2 teaspoon salt
*1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
*1 tablespoon ground chili powder- I used ancho, but you could go spicier (just don’t use as much!).
*about 3 oz. chopped dark bittersweet chocolate

Mix up everything but the chopped chocolate- get the lumps out! Stir in the chocolate and put it in a pretty quart jar.

Use 1/3 cup for every cup of boiling water. Makes 12 servings.

I'm interested to see how the chili powder affects the drink. :)

Things that Vexed Me Lately:

- When people put up a recipe for homemade bread online, say at cooks.com or at allrecipes.com and the instructions read, "Put ingredients into breadmaker in order suggested by your manufacturer," and continue on to read, "Select the settings for wheat bread, dark crust." I realize that breadmaker bread is homemade, but shouldn't the instructions then be under the heading "breadmaker bread"? I don't have a freaking breadmaker, and my hands didn't come with a manufacturer's suggestion for adding ingredients. Unfortunately.

- I can't finish my knitting projects. I have six million (more like five, actually) dishcloths waiting for the ends to be woven in. I have one broadripple sock that has existed for more than one year. I have one brand spanking new embossed leaves sock that I can't wait to knit the pair to, but I'm having the damnedest time kitchenering the toe. That would have to mean I'd have to look something up. How lazy is that?

- The flatbread I made on Sunday was a little blah.

- Aldi didn't have any sour cream.

- I can't stay out any later than Bruce does, and Bruce lately decides he wants to go home right when I'm at the point where I want to stay out and be drinking forever. (When we do go out, which is twice a month or slightly less.) It's not that I can't stay out if I want to, it's that I end up being sad because Bruce isn't there to talk to and oh my god why can't I be one of those cool womyn who don't give a shit? but Bruce is my favorite person and I miss him when he's gone and then I turn into that girl who's drinking and on the verge of tears. It ain't pretty.

- The Linus knocked over a bottle of water on my desk last week, and it was all my fault for leaving the bottle untopped, and I hate that it's all my fault because the water shorted out my keyboard and now I'm using B's old one, which is nice but just not... you know... matchy.

- I can never keep up with my own mess. I clean the hell out of everything, but then I turn around and am making bread which takes a long time doesn't really leave me in the mood for cleaning, what with all that kneading and stuff.

- My coworker had surgery last week and I've been working a lot. Not as much as last week, when I'd been scheduled for several ten hour days, which let's just say I got up the balls to put the kibosh to, but a lot. For me, anyway. I'm hoping to make tons of money and pay off our taxes right away this year. You know, after paying off the ones from last year. (cough)

- We've got other things to pay for too.

- The fact that I'm a whiney cow for writing down everything that's making me unhappy, when really I'm very damn happy and have no right to be making a pissed list. Ha! That rhymed. See?

Too Long

I'm waiting too long in between posts.

I worked far too long today. An eight-and-a-half hour day is still OK, but ten is just one and one-half too many hours for this chick.

I'm on my fifth dishcloth since Christmas. They were a hit this year, and so my master plan is to have all the dishcloths I'll need for next year before the end of January. That way, I can knit completely selfishly for the rest of the year, and when I get to December 15 panic mode, I'll accidentally come across these dishcloths and remember my grand scheme, and be my own salvation. Hurrah!

That's not all I've been knitting, though. I've also gotten further on my Hourglass sweater (remember that one? Probably not, it's been so long!) and have an almost-completed Embossed Leaves sock on the needles. That's the quickest sock I've ever knit, and I think it's because of the chart. 16 row repeat charts for socks are the secret to me finishing them in a reasonable amount of time.

My joints have been aching, and I've been feeling very lethargic. I'm hoping it's because I'm fighting off a cold, because I'm really hoping it's not the sign of another flare-up, because that would be the worst timing EVER.

My coworker had surgery this week, which means she'll be out of commission for at least a month. Hurray for hours, boo for being sick while working them.

Catching Up

Robby
OMG
YOU'RE THERE
?

sarah
omg*
yeah
how are you?

Robby
thank god
okay
so this song leaves me breathless

did you listen to my myspace song

sarah
not yet
hold your horses
don't tell me where you put them, though

Robby
hahahah
crank it

and search dreamgirls
and then listen to "i love you i do"

Robby
this woman
who sang both songs
lost to kelly clarkson on american idol
she got 4th

sarah
what's her name?

Robby
but now she's in a movie with beyonce, and beyonce played the lead
and she is getting no recognition
jennifer hudson

sarah
she's good, but there's something about her voice that hits a spot inside my ear that goes directly into the spot on my brain that hears screachy things. I can tell she's a good singer, but I just can't listen for too long, you know?


[Here's one of the songs we're talking about.]
______
*Note: If speaking the omg aloud to yourself, it's meant to have the dryest of dry tones. Hence the lack of exclaimation.

Lisa clued me into the fact that you can check out magazines from the local library. (Shh, don't tell anybody, but she was checking out some magazines that typically girls aren't allowed to be seen looking at, no I'm not talking about porn, you girls know what kinds I mean, right? You can't at them when you're single, but it only makes sense to look at them when you're single. You know what I mean.) So now I've been going back once a week or so for some magazines. I have to catch up on my Martha Stewart magazine. And also my Hobby Farming magazine. What? I could maybe start a hobby farm. In my rental house. I have a big garage, ok?

I had a large hatred for my library last week when all week long, they just decided they were going to have special, "Sunny won't be able to go," hours. Bastards. Who gets to decide they're only going to be open until three for an entire week, just because they want to? The library, that's who. And the post office could probably also do that. Or a doctor. They're all bastards.

Also, do you know what I got from work for Christmas? I'll show you. Sometime. But first, I want to tell you. From my boss, I got a freaking GIFT BASKET from Bath and Body Works. And not one of the tiny ones, either. Actually, I got one of those from her too. But the one I'm talking about is one of those giant gift baskets, one that includes not only the lotion and the body wash, but it's got the bubble bath and the candle, too! And a bath poof! I needed a bath poof! So badly that it was one of the presents I wrapped up for myself back when I was a little (ok, a lot) afraid I wasn't going to get anything for Christmas, and thought I'd wrap up a few small things (you know, from the dollar store), just so I'd have something to open. (Those fears were completely unwarranted, and Bruce got me some fantastic presents. Lots of people did. I had no reason to feel preemptively sorry for myself like that. Silly Sunny!) What flavor, you ask? Cherry Blossom! Which I had never smelt at the store, but I can tell you now that it's really nice smelling! (I can tell you that now because it's all I've been bathing in ever since I got it.)

And! She got me one of those little tiny gift baskets, too. As if you didn't already know. It was some jasmine-scented thing that's supposed to make someone horny. At least I think that's what it said. I think she talked to Bruce, and that one was his suggestion.

I'm not even to the best part yet. Guess what else she got me? She bought me and the other girl at work MP3 players.

For serious.

Yeah.

I know.

I said that too.

So! I'm really getting into the idea of walking for more exercise, and so I borrowed some Terry Pratchett books on CD from the library, with the intent of copying them onto my computer and then listening to them while I walk, in two hour segments. Good idea, huh?

I'm also looking forward to walking with Huck, because the poor little Pooper hasn't had much experience walking on a leash, and there's no time like the present to teach him. You know, before he's a poor old Pooper.

After the Fact

There are a few things I want to do for next Christmas that I didn't get a chance to do this year.

Firstly, I want to make a yarn garland. There's a specific garland I'm going to emmulate, and it's the one that Kmart sells under their Martha Stewart Sugarplum line for Christmas. I've wanted it for the past three years, only realizing this year that I could do it by myself for much cheaper and with a bigger sense of gratification. I want to do it next year. I've already got some of the poms made - this year they were strictly for decoration.

I want to make a garland or an ornament with the cards we recieved this year to hang next year. Maybe I'll make a garland for next year and an ornament after next Christmas? Something. They were all so pretty and it felt so nice to get them, I think it would be nice to have a momento of some sort. Maybe start a tradition.

I want to do a gingerbread house. That's pretty self-explanitory.

I want to go carolling with a group that does it up north. I know the guy who runs it, so I'll get on the list for next year.

I also want to keep making Christmas ornaments for people every year, because this year it was really fun and I already came across some ideas for next.

I want to make things with salt dough and some things with paper-mache. There are so many cute things out there (ornaments, etc) that can be done with these. The sky is literally the limit.

I want to make more crochet snowflake ornaments. I've got one that I made this year, but maybe I could make one per year or something? Something.

Don't worry, I've already got something lined up with my cousin Michelle for Valentine's Day, too. ;)